May 05, 2006

Whorf in a bottle

(For more variations on the "No Word for X" trope, see the list of posts linked here.)

[Update: As is so often the case with this trope, the intent is to exoticize a faraway "primitive" land, in this case linking the "Fiji" brand of bottled water with an Edenically pristine image of an island nation unfamiliar both linguistically and culturally with "pollutants." Sadly, as Mark Liberman points out, the reality is quite different, as a Google search on {Fiji pollutant} readily demonstrates. A sampling:

The population of Suva, capital of Fiji, is about 187,000. Three
kilometres west of Suva, adjacent to the sea, is a six-hectare landfill
site called "Lami Dump". The site was mangrove until 40 years ago.
Today, about 60,000 tones of waste from factories, shops and households
are brought in annually (figures from Fiji 1 website). The waste matter
has been piled up several meters high. The land lease contract with the
owner has expired, and it will soon be impossible to add further waste
to the site. There are no pollution prevention measures in place. An
offensive odour spreads several hundred metres to surrounding homes and
businesses. The site hosts flies, cockroaches and rats, which spread
endemic diseases like bacillary dysentery. In addition, high
concentrations of toxic substances like arsenic, cadmium, mercury and
lead, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as organic acids,
are leaching into the soil and seawater around the site, resulting in
degradation of marine water quality, destruction of habitat, loss of
property values and reduced fish marketability, amongst others (UNEP
Report number 174, 2000). (link)

The Kinoya wastewater treatment plant in Suva, Fiji, caters for a
population of 85,000. Incoming BOD and suspended solids (SS) are
approximately 450mg/L and 290mg/L with final effluent at 20-45mg/L and
30-60mg/L respectively. (link)

Fiji is fortunate in having considerable resources, timber, land, marine
products, and some minerals. But in recent years their exploitation has
not been sustainable, in fact they have been 'mined' for quick economic
return without effective environmental and social considerations and
regard for the future. This is common in marine products, forests and
agriculture. The poor logging and forest management is 'mining' the
timber and water catchment's resources, the ginger industry is 'mining'
the soil resources, so as the sugar industry on the marginal coastal
lands. Over the years, many development assistance agencies have
encouraged this shortsighted approach through their focus on narrow
economic targets. ...
Fiji's population growth rate is moderate, but the urban and peri-urban
growth rate is high, and is clearly outstripping infra-structural
planning and development. Thus it is primarily responsible for the
important social issues of environmental concern, such as housing,
water and sanitation. Direct regulating control of water or air
pollution and monitoring are absent. ...
[Sugar] is the second largest industry in Fiji, generating approximately
$300 million in revenue, through the production of 470,000 tonnes of
sugar. Approximately 700km2 of land is used in growing sugar cane in
Fiji. The main environmental hazards of cane fields are the 'inputs'
use, fertilizer weedicides and pesticides. There are no regulations to
specifically control how they are used on farms and other work places. ...
Saw milling is becoming big in Fiji, especially when there is a big
demand for pine chips in Japan and pine timber for local and overseas
market. There are about 20 sawmills with timber treatment facilities.
70% of the logs are chipped for sale to Japan and the remaining 30%
converted to timber. In terms of solid waste, these sawmills produce
about 14,000 tons of wood waste a year, which accumulates in
rubbish tips that are continuously smoking from spontaneous fire. Some
chemical wastes containing copper, chromium and arsenic are generated by
treatment plants. ...
The results show a significant high number of contaminations ... It is
of great concern that in all Divisions, some treated supplies were also
contaminated. (link) ]